“In the 21st century, when we make grand claims of major social developments and social reforms, a Dalit woman cook’s food at an Anganwadi centre in Odisha is refused by members of a particular community for their children,” Kharge said… “Anganwadi centres form the foundation of children’s physical and mental development in the country, but such caste-based discrimination will impact children’s development.”
Kharge said these incidents violate Article 21(A) of the Constitution and are contrary to the obligations enshrined in Article 47, which places the responsibility on the state to improve nutritional standards and public health.
Kharge mentioned several incidents of discrimination from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chandigarh in recent years.
“These incidents show that caste-based discrimination is not limited to social life alone but exists in the workplace as well. Caste-based discrimination against any employee is a violation of the Constitution and is a punishable offence,” Kharge said.
Kharge demanded that strict action be taken in a time-bound manner and accountability be fixed in such cases.
In a separate intervention, another Congress member and senior parliamentarian Rajeev Shukla flagged during Zero Hour the growing concern of deep-fake AI and warned that the danger is not in future but now.”Today, anyone can download an app and make a fake video of anyone. The fake videos look so real that a common man cannot differentiate between the real and fake one. We have come across several incidents where morphed pictures and videos of women have been made through AI or changes made in a political leader’s statements to misguide people,” he said.
Shukla mentioned his own example where a doctored video of his statement was used in Pakistan over a T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan.
He demanded that the government form a national agency for monitoring AI generated content and every platform should use watermarks. He said youth should be made aware of the challenges of AI.
